When Dave Perry joined Xyron Semiconductor in Vancouver, Wash., this summer as VP of marketing, he quickly determined that the company's PR firm lacked the depth of knowledge to effectively position Xyron's complex technology. Perry knew he would need to line up a new PR firm, and in fact the pitches started coming even before he had begun the official search. "We had a constant barrage of mail, phone calls, emails," he recalls. "As soon as news of my joining the company hit the papers, I started hearing from an awful lot of people."